Tools for Managing Volunteers During and After a Disaster

The following tools have been developed for Medical Reserve Corps Coordinators, Public Health Agencies or any organization that may deploy volunteers to assist during or after an emergency or disaster. Communicating clearly with volunteers prior to their deployment, evaluating the site from the perspective of volunteer safety and receiving feedback from volunteers all contribute to promoting volunteer satisfaction and effective response.

These tools were developed through a process that included review of existing tools and resources, discussion with individuals who had coordinated volunteers in a disaster response, feedback from participants in a session at the ’2008 Minnesota: Ready to Respond Conference’ and input from Minnesota Medical Reserve Corps Coordinators.

These tools are intended as templates to be modified to best meet your agency/organization needs, policies and procedures. They are presented below in two formats; PDF and Word. In the PDF format the document cannot be altered and in the Word format it can be modified.

PDF documents

• Developing a Volunteer Code of Conduct
• Important Information Prior to Deployment
• Post-Deployment Hotwash
• Sample Packing List
• Staff Evaluation Example
• Volunteer Feedback Form
• Volunteer Safety

Word documents

• Developing a Volunteer Code of Conduct
• Important Information Prior to Deployment
• Post-Deployment Hotwash
• Sample Packing List
• Staff Evaluation Example
• Volunteer Feedback Form
• Volunteer Safety

Click on the link for Incident Command System (ICS) forms, which may also be of assistance to volunteer managers during an event.

This guide was developed by the University of Minnesota Center for Public Health Preparedness.